F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: Over 60 passengers from the Chinese city of Urumqi arrived in Pakistan on Monday as direct flight operations between the two countries resumed after a brief suspension.
A spokesman of the Aviation Division in a brief statement in Islamabad on Sunday said that Pakistan has decided to resume direct flight operations, which were suspended on January 29 as a preventive measure to control the spread of deadly coronavirus.
Sources told the Urdu daily that the passengers on the plane would be screened for the virus before being allowed to leave the airport.
Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Health Dr Zafar Mirza and Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing were present at the airport to supervise the screening mechanism.
“At Islamabad airport this morning – received passengers from China along with HE Chinese Ambassador [in Pakistan]. CZ6007 brought 69 passengers including 57 Pakistanis and 12 Chinese. We supervised implementation of ‘Airport SOPs’ & I interviewed passengers,” the health adviser tweeted.
Pakistan had on Friday halted flights to and from China with immediate effect as the death toll from a virus outbreak spreading in China mounted and the World Health Organisation called it a global health emergency.
